Real-time strategy (RTS) has become a very popular and competitive electronic gaming genre. Each new game has tried to add new features and elements to surpass its predecessors, showering avid players with enhanced graphics, more realistic war environments, enhanced AI and a myriad of other features and quirks.

Ground Control, developed by Massive Entertainment and produced by Sierra, is one of the new contenders in this field, providing a few novel and interesting features in an attempt to make RTS history.

The game takes place in the 25th century, a milieu in which rival corporations are vying to colonize the same planets -- leading to war.

Some of the more enticing features introduced during boot camp include camera control, which allows you to change your view a number of different ways. You can double-click on any squad and the camera will follow that squad as it completes its commands.

You can also employ the camera in a more free-floating way by using the mouse and the keyboard to zoom in and out, move side to side, turn and so on. This becomes vital when fighting on terrain that has trees and other objects that your squad can disappear behind, making it challenging to keep an eye on your troops.

Another feature is the ability to use "natural" lighting to your strategic advantage. You can hide your units in shaded areas, making it harder for your enemy to target you. This is a double-edged sword, as your enemies are equally difficult to spot in these areas, while you can also lose track of your own units in the dark.

Troops can carry special weapons and armor that can be customized by the player or automatically configured by the computer. In the full version, squads actually gain experience and skills as they move from mission to mission.

Ground Control has taken away the resource management aspect of so many RTS games. Instead of worrying about gathering resources or building units, the primary focus here is on surviving battle.

This simplified gameplay has its pluses and minuses. You tend to have a set number of troops to complete a mission -- once they're gone, you've lost.

Since I prefer the resource building of huge army strategy games, I was easily frustrated with the limited troop mix, but if you're the type of player who just wants to get in the trenches and fight, Ground Control is ideal.

Ground Control also allows for multiplayer gameplay with several different modes including a deathmatch-style game. Missions start out easy but jump in difficulty really quickly.

The demo was easy to install and ran well on my K6-2 with 128 megs ram, and Voodoo 3. Graphics are nice, allowing you to fine-tune the resolution you want to see.

The game is currently available in stores.